1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document management method and apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a document management method and apparatus in a document management system which allows a client apparatus on a network to update document information managed on the same network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of sharing documents in an environment connected via a network such as the Internet or an intranet is known. For example, there are systems which cause a client apparatus such as a PC to, by using a Web browser or dedicated client software, register, update, delete, and acquire document information and document files managed on a document management apparatus in which document management software is installed.
To use a general document management apparatus, a user must register user information to be managed by the apparatus and must be authenticated based on user identification information such as a user ID and password issued by the apparatus. The authenticated user information is used to check the access right for document browsing. Additionally, when the user registers or updates document information or document file, the authenticated user information is stored in association with the processed document information, thereby making an operation record.
As a general update method, the user designates a document and makes a declaration for document update, which is called “check-out”, thereby excluding update by other users. After correcting the checked-out document, the user designates the corrected document and executes check-in processing. That is, the document in the checked-out state is set in an exclusive state to prevent update by any other user. The user executes the check-in processing to release the document from the exclusive state. This function is already known and imparted to many existing document management apparatuses (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-085598).
However, while a document is checked out for update, update processing by other users is excluded. The excluded users cannot update the document and must wait until the checking-out user checks in the document or releases it from the checked-out state. If, during a period in which an operator is expected to update a document with a due date, another user checks out the document, the operation efficiency becomes poor. That is, the operation remains undone because the operator must wait until the checking-out user checks in the document to enable the operator to check out the document.
Individual users cannot know the schedules of other users, that is, the expected check-out time and check-out target document of each user and the expected time of checking in the checked-out document. For example, assume that a document is currently being checked out by a user, and another user wants to check out the document when it is checked in. However, if still another user also wants to check out the document, he/she may check out the document first. It is therefore necessary before an operation to always monitor whether a document is released. This greatly decreases the user's operation efficiency.
Another problem is posed when a user needs to update a plurality of documents. To update a plurality of documents, normally, the user repeats the document check-out operation, document update operation, and document check-in operation a plurality of number of times. However, as described above, if another user can easily check out a target document, check-out by another user is often prevented in the following way. The user first checks out all documents to be updated and then repeats the document update operation and document check-in operation for each document.
In the method of checking out documents at once, however, the documents are left in the checked-out state until their turn for update comes. The later the order of document update is, the longer the time in which a document is left unprocessed is. The document is not necessarily being checked out during the period without processing. That is, if the user checks out the documents at once, many documents remain checked out for a time more than necessary. This consequently hinders other users who want to update the documents from checking out them. That is, the operation efficiency of other users decreases more than what is necessary.